296 MATER i A MEDIC A AND THERAPEUTICS. 



B. Of Scammonice Eesina : 



1. Mistura Scammonii. 1 in 240 of fresh milk. Dose, | to 2 



fl.oz. for a child. 



2. Pilula Scammonii Composita. Resin of Scammony, 1 ; 



Resin of Jalap, 1 ; Curd Soap, 1 ; Strong Tincture of 

 Ginger, 1 ; Spirit, 2. This is the only aperient pill in 

 the Pharmacopoeia which does not contain aloes. Dose, 

 5 to 15 gr. 



Eesina Scammonice is also an important ingredient of Ex- 

 tractum Colocynthidis Compositum (1 in 7) . 



ACTION AND USES. 



Preparations of scammony are powerful stimulants of the 

 intestinal glands, and to a less degree of the liver, causing 

 free purgation within a few hours, attended by griping. It 

 begins to act in the duodenum on meeting the bile, and will 

 not purge if injected into the blood. 



Scammony is used chiefly as a smart purgative and anthel- 

 mintic in children, in cases unattended by irritation of the 

 stomach and bowels. As a hydragogue, jalap is generally pre- 

 ferred. 



Jalapa JALAP. The dried tubercles of Exo- 

 gonium purga. Imported from Mexico. 



Characters. Varying from the size of a nut to that of an 

 orange, ovoid, the larger tubercles frequently incised, covered 

 with a thin brown wrinkled cuticle ; presenting, when cut, a 

 yellowish-grey colour, with dark brown concentric circles. 



Composition. Jalap contains 15 to 20 per cent, of the 

 officinal resin, which in turn is composed in part of sonvolvulin, 

 C 31 H 50 16 , a colourless, tasteless, odourless body, of gummy 

 appearance. This is the anhydride of convolvulinic acid, into 

 which it can be converted by alkalies. Convolvulin is probably 

 identical with the jalapin of scammony. 



Dose. 10 to 30 gr. 



Jalapae Resina. RESIN OP JALAP. 



Source. Made by precipitating a tincture of jalap in water. 



Characters. Dark-brown opaque fragments, translucent at 

 the edges ; brittle, with a resinous fracture ; with a sweetish 

 acrid taste ; readily soluble in spirit, insoluble in water. 



